50 Fun Facts About Hard Harry Potter

Which relative of Dumbledore died in the three-way duel between Albus, Aberforth and Grindelwald?

Nobody ever knew whose curse struck her, which haunted Albus for the rest of his life.

What were the names of Albus Dumbledore's parents?

Percival went to Azkaban for attacking the Muggle boys who had hurt Ariana, and Kendra was later killed by accident by her own daughter.

On what date was Tom Marvolo Riddle born?

He was born in a Muggle orphanage on New Year's Eve, which is why he never celebrated the day.

What was the name of Voldemort's witch mother?

She used a love potion on the Muggle Tom Riddle, and Rowling has said that loveless union explains her son's inability to love.

Which potion did Voldemort's mother use to ensnare the Muggle Tom Riddle, according to Rowling?

It smells different to everyone, matching whatever attracts them most.

The trait of speaking Parseltongue ran through Voldemort's ancestral family. What was that family called?

They spoke it among themselves and guarded their so-called pure blood through generations of inbreeding.

What was Severus Snape's mother's maiden name, the source of his self-given title?

His father Tobias Snape was a Muggle, which made Severus a half-blood.

What was the name of the street where Snape grew up and later lived?

Bellatrix and Narcissa visit him there in the second chapter of the sixth book.

What form did Snape's Patronus take, and why?

Dumbledore had asked him to make sure Harry found the Sword of Gryffindor, so the doe led Harry to a frozen pool.

Sirius Black was named, in family tradition, after which heavenly body?

It fits, since his Animagus form is a huge black dog nicknamed Padfoot.

What was the full name of Sirius's younger brother, the original R.A.B.?

He stole the real locket Horcrux and left the fake one with a note signed only with his initials.

Which of his three cousins did Sirius consider his favourite?

She was disowned by the family for marrying the Muggle-born Ted Tonks, and became mother to Nymphadora.

How many years did Sirius spend in Azkaban before his escape?

He kept his sanity because he knew he was innocent, and slipped past the Dementors as a dog since they cannot read simple animal minds.

What did Sirius lend Hagrid on the night the Potters were killed?

That was the very first mention of him, in the opening chapter of Philosopher's Stone.

According to Rowling, what is the core of the Elder Wand?

It suits a wand of death: thestrals can only be seen by people who have witnessed someone die.

Which Peverell brother was the original owner of the Elder Wand?

Cadmus took the Resurrection Stone and Ignotus the Cloak, which is how Harry, a descendant of Ignotus, inherited it.

How does the Elder Wand's allegiance pass from one wizard to the next?

That loophole is why Harry, who disarmed Draco, was its true master when Voldemort tried to use it.

What did Harry do with the Elder Wand right after Voldemort's death?

In the book he then intends to return it to Dumbledore's tomb; the film has him snap it instead.

Which Dumbledore invention helped Ron find his way back to Harry and Hermione?

Dumbledore first uses it in chapter one of the series to put out the street lamps on Privet Drive.

The inscription on the Mirror of Erised is which phrase written backwards?

Erised itself is simply desire spelled backwards.

Which veteran British actor provided the voice of the Sorting Hat in the films?

He was 77 when the first film came out and returned to the role for the last one.

In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Croaker's Law limits legal Time-Turners to how far into the past?

The illegal Time-Turner in the play breaks that rule, which is how the whole plot goes wrong.

What do memories look like when they are stored in a Pensieve?

Rowling said the Pensieve lets you see details of a memory that you never consciously noticed at the time.

What destroyed Harry's Nimbus 2000, prompting Sirius to send him a Firebolt?

The Firebolt was still the fastest broom in the world, having overtaken the Nimbus 2001.

Who bought Nimbus 2001 brooms for the entire Slytherin Quidditch team?

It was a bribe to get Draco onto the team as Seeker.

Where and when was Hogwarts founded, according to the Wizarding World website?

Each of its four Houses is named after one of the founders.

What form does Hermione's Patronus take?

Rowling chose it because the otter is her own favourite animal.

What does the acronym of the organisation Hermione founds in Goblet of Fire, S.P.E.W., stand for?

Ron and Harry mostly humoured her, and the house-elves themselves were largely horrified.

What was the name of Hagrid's giantess mother?

She left when he was tiny, and his half-brother Grawp is her son too.

Where does Hagrid keep the pieces of his snapped wand?

He was officially forbidden from doing magic until the third book cleared his name.

Where was the baby dragon Norbert taken after Harry, Ron and Hermione helped Hagrid get rid of him?

Charlie Weasley's friends collected him from the top of the Astronomy Tower.

What did the disguised Professor Quirrell give Hagrid in exchange for details about the three-headed dog?

Hagrid let slip that music would put the dog to sleep, which was exactly what Quirrell needed.

Which four Death Eaters tortured Neville's parents into insanity?

Frank and Alice Longbottom had been Aurors and members of the original Order of the Phoenix.

What job does Neville hold at Hogwarts nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts?

It was the one subject he was brilliant at from the start, under Professor Sprout.

What are the names of Luna Lovegood's twin sons?

She married Rolf Scamander, grandson of the Fantastic Beasts author Newt Scamander.

Draco Malfoy married which fellow Slytherin?

She died young of an inherited blood curse, leaving Draco to raise their son Scorpius alone.

What did Draco repair in the Room of Requirement to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts?

Its twin sat in Borgin and Burkes, the Dark-arts shop in Knockturn Alley.

Which professional Quidditch team did Ginny Weasley join after Hogwarts, according to Rowling?

It is an all-witch team, and Ginny later became Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet.

How did Barty Crouch Jr get out of Azkaban?

His dying mother took his place in the cell, and he later posed as Mad-Eye Moody for a whole school year.

Which Hogwarts teacher is the only one who is a ghost?

He teaches History of Magic and reportedly did not notice that he had died.

According to Rowling, which character is the only one in the series based on a real person?

The real man, she said, was even more objectionable and told whopping great fibs about his past.

Professor Quirrell's first name is never given in the novels. Where did the name Quirinus first appear?

Quirinus was an old Roman god, fittingly two-faced in some tellings.

A real spider species discovered in Iran was named after which Harry Potter creature?

Lycosa aragogi is a wolf spider, though nowhere near the size of the acromantula.

Which ghost haunts Hufflepuff House?

The Bloody Baron belongs to Slytherin and the Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw, haunts her mother's house.

How big was Bloomsbury's first hardback print run of Philosopher's Stone in June 1997?

Just 500 hardbacks were printed, 300 of them for libraries — standard for a first novel at the time.

How much did Scholastic pay for the US rights to Philosopher's Stone at the 1997 Bologna Book Fair?

$105,000 was an unusually high sum for a children's book; Arthur Levine then retitled it Sorcerer's Stone.

How much was the advance Bloomsbury paid Rowling for the first Harry Potter book?

Bloomsbury paid a £2,500 advance; Rowling later got an £8,000 Scottish Arts Council grant to plan the sequels.

How many Deathly Hallows books sold in the US in its first 24 hours, a Guinness World Record?

8.3 million sold in the US and 2.65 million in the UK on day one — the record for most novels sold within 24 hours.

Which UK supermarket sparked a price war by announcing it would sell Deathly Hallows for just £5?

Asda's £5 loss-leader announcement two days before launch enraged independent booksellers.

According to Rowling, in which Ministry department did Hermione begin her post-Hogwarts career?

She started in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures before moving to Magical Law Enforcement and eventually becoming Minister.